


Lifeboat

by A_bit_not_good_yeah



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, Sleep Deprivation, Tender content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23520262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_bit_not_good_yeah/pseuds/A_bit_not_good_yeah
Summary: A small, tender interlude between Richard and Jared one sleepless night during the Hooli lawsuit days.
Relationships: Jared Dunn/Richard Hendricks
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	Lifeboat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [joycecarolnotes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/joycecarolnotes/gifts).



> In honor of SV's birthday (April 6, 2014), here's a wee bit o'tenderness I wrote for joycecarolnotes awhile ago.

Richard snaps himself back awake with a start, his eyes wide and blinking rapidly. That was the third time he’d nodded off while going over this mountain of documents Hooli sent over. He looks to his right, and Jared appears similarly dancey, his huge blue eyes almost radioactive in the light of his laptop screen. 

The other guys had packed it in an hour ago or so - or was it yesterday? Time was getting funny as arbitration approached. Arbitration, right. The reason for all this stress and worry and the endless parade of email after email that he’s been going through with a fine tooth comb to find something, ANYTHING that might incriminate them, and that sick, hollow feeling Richard has become unfortunately accustomed to settles back into his stomach.

“Jared?” His voice comes out rusty from disuse. 

Jared’s eyes snap to Richard’s with laser focus and he lets out a startled little “ha!” before he notes Richard’s expression. “What is it? Did you find something?”

“I think I...bed.” That’s all Richard can manage, but Jared is nodding as if this is the wisest, sagest advice he’s ever heard. Those dark circles are back under his eyes and Richard hates them, hates to see Jared pushed this far, but at the same time there is a part of him that thrills at Jared’s devotion. To Pied Piper, of course.

“ _Yes_ ,” he says emphatically, and shoves his chair back from the work table ungracefully. Richard does the same, but stumbles as he’s getting up and Jared catches him around the arm to help steady him. His hands are warm. Big. Richard blinks up at him a bit stupidly, agog at how much of Jared there is. _Tall_ , he thinks. _How is Jared so **tall**?_

“Bed,” Jared says, and right yes, that’s what’s happening, all systems go. Jared doesn’t let go of Richard’s arm as they walk down the long, long, endless hallway to Richard’s bedroom. Richard doesn’t mind. 

When they reach Richard’s room, Jared stops and nods once, definitively. _Job completed. On to the next task._ Richard clumsily climbs the ladder to the loft bed and flops onto his belly, his head turned to look at Jared standing in the middle of the room, looking a bit lost. “Jared,” he says and isn’t sure what is coming next, but he knows he wants Jared here with him instead of far away, looking lost.

“Yes, Richard? What can I do for you?” He steps closer to the loft bed and their faces are level. He’s whispering. Richard’s limbs are heavy and the moonlight coming through his window makes Jared’s skin look so pale, like he might just dissolve and disappear into the glow and the idea of Jared turning into a moonbeam makes him laugh suddenly. A high-pitched giggle that turns into a huge, yawning sadness almost as quickly. He reaches out, catches the edge of Jared’s crisply starched sleeve and tugs his hand close.

“Jared,” he says again, and it means everything, all at once. “Jared, what if we lose? I can’t - all of this is - I don’t want you to go.” 

“Hey, shh,” Jared hushes him and twists his hand to grab at Richard’s tightly. His fingers wrap around Richard’s and they’re warm, so warm. “I’m not going anywhere, Richard, I would never - we can win this, we can do this. Together. You believe that, don’t you?”

Richard looks at him, looks at their fingers intertwined, and looks at him again. They are clinging to each other, a tiny lifeboat in the vast sea of trouble that surrounds them. The unknown deep is trying to pull them down, but here they are safe because they are together. “Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I believe it.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on tumblr @bitchardhendricks


End file.
